Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Changing Dynamics

We watched the Food Network's
Best Baker in America last night. I think I watch these Food Network
competition shows to make myself feel bad. Not only can I not make 99%
of what the adults and children make, but I only know the lingo from
listening to them use the terminology for so long. (What is a semi-fredo
anyway? Still not sure what a "coulis" is. It took a long time
to learn that ganache is just chocolate melted in cream.)

Best Baker is a competition among
professional bakers in who can make the best looking/tasting "thing"
(whatever the project of the week is).

I had this strange feeling when the
judges were introduced:

I remembered Jason Smith from when he entered
his first contest, for which he was the first self-taught chef winner, and
then he competed to be the Next Food Network Star, which he also won
(he worked in a school kitchen and now he has his own Food Network show)
And as for Marcella Valladolid, she is a chef on The Kitchen and a
very active on social media. I know her, her kids, her husband, her
house all from following her posts on Instagram.

Social media has changed the
celebrity-fan dynamic. Now if you like a certain celebrity
and they use Social Media, you can feel a real part of their life,
especially if they ever answer one of your tweets (even if only 'thank
you.')

Matt Bomer (White Collar) and Sam
Heughan (Outlander) are two of the most handsome actors I've seen
on TV (both are younger than Tom). They are also both prolific
tweeters.

Bomer's show has been off TV for a couple of years,
Outlander is heading into its 4th season. It was ignored by awards
shows in its first season, had a couple of nominations in the second, and
now has seventeen nominations for the third season, including one for
Heughan. I'm wondering how much the availability of Heughan especially
has to do with the show being finally noticed.

Paulie Perette and Brian Dietzen, both of NCIS, are
also big tweeters. Perette had lots of interactions with fans in the
weeks leading up to her departure from the series and Dietzen may be the
show's best publicity person, with his pre-show tweets each week.

When I was a star-struck kid, I had to wait for the latest
issue of a movie magazine to learn anything about the actors I enjoyed
(information carefully orchestrated by the studios...talk about fake news!).
Now you can chat with them on a daily basis or follow their lives by reading
what they share with the public.

And it's not just the younger guys who use social media.
One of the most prolific tweeters is 96 year old Carl Reiner, who is a very
stern Trump task master and tweets often. Slightly less prolific, but
still a frequent tweeter is son Rob, who likewise holds #45's feet to the
fire...for whatever good it does..

We watched David Letterman receive the Mark Twain award for
comedy last night. They ran several clips from his show, including my
very favorite stupid pet trick